1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to novel air-core gauges employing magnetic field techniques, and particularly to air-core gauges and magnetic field techniques therefor which control orienting radially magnetized rotors over an infinite number of angular displacements using wye type stator windings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A problem exist in the prior art in forming low profile air-core gauges for installation in instrument panels and dash boards of various structures and equipment. Most aircore gauges employ cross-coil arrangements whereby one cross coil affects interaction with the magnetic rotor differently than the other cross coil since the magnetic proximity to the rotor of the two coils differ Reissued U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,604 dated Feb. 16, 1988 of A.L. Reenstra describes such a coil arrangement Such a coil arrangement appears to not address the issue of providing a low profile gauge for the various equipments since the bulky sizes of the gauges remain.
A co-pending application of P. Markow et al., Ser. No. 07/431,130, entitled "Radial Air-core Gauge" filed Nov. 3, 1989 teaches a low profile air-core gauge having 90 degree stator windings. Such an arrangement yields interchangeable radial coils which equally affect interaction with the magnetic rotor. Such an arrangement virtually eliminates any positional errors due to unbalanced stator winding fields This gauge provides a low profile instrument which gives the instrument panel designer more space in which to work.
However, a need exists for even further reduction in size of the gauge and for the type of gauge that uses simpler and cheaper control drivers. A search was initiated to find such an air-core gauge device. That search ended in the device of the present invention.